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Original poster

Disputing energy bill

43 replies

asblackasyoursoul · 25/09/2022 20:07

Hi all. We pay our energy bill every 3 months. So:

From November last year to February this year, we used 1428 KW/h, this was with the heating on the entire time. Reasonable charge for that.

This year, from June to August, it claims we have used 1848kw/h. We had not had the heating on for this ENTIRE period as it was the summer.

I did a meter reading and managed to get £50 shaved off.
I know prices have gone up however that’s not the issue, how could we possible have used that amount of energy during the summer with the heating off and it’s apparently less usage than last winter?!

We’re with SSE and have sent them an email saying we are disputing this, I think we need them to check our meter and failing this the boiler needs checking. The immersion is always on as we don’t have an electric shower etc however this has never caused an issue in the past.

Does anyone have any advice? I’m not really great with this kind of thing. Thank you

OP posts:
Original poster
asblackasyoursoul · 25/09/2022 20:08

Sorry, I meant to say more usage than last winter not less.

OP posts:
Boomboomboomboom · 25/09/2022 20:12

If your heating was off this summer I doubt you'd use anything like the kW of gas mentioned - by comparison ours was less than £30 per month including standing charge for hot water and gas hob this summer but over £100 pm Nov to March for heating hot water hob. Cannot recall rates but might have been 7p for kW.

dementedpixie · 25/09/2022 20:14

Unless your hot water cylinder is very well insulated then I wouldn't leave the immersion heater on all the time.

Do you do regular meter readings?

dementedpixie · 25/09/2022 20:15

Is it your gas or electricity or are you all electric?

MooseBeTimeForSnow · 25/09/2022 20:16

Hot tub?

Jellykat · 25/09/2022 20:27

Were your previous bills estimated?

Dannexe · 25/09/2022 20:30

presumably this is for the electric alone. If you keep the immersion on constantly your bill would be similar in summer to in winter.

Hellocatshome · 25/09/2022 20:30

Assuming all the meter reads were accurate reads rather than estimated you either have a problem with your meter (rare but does happen) more likely a problem with an appliance such as boiler etc. Your energy provider won't care about problems with an appliance and won't check them thats down to you. They may check meter accuracy but will ask you to take a read at the same time every day for 7 days first so I suggest you get started with that.

Cynderella · 25/09/2022 21:16

Dannexe · 25/09/2022 20:30

presumably this is for the electric alone. If you keep the immersion on constantly your bill would be similar in summer to in winter.

I assumed gas, as OP said 'no electric shower,' so 'immersion is always on' and mentioned 'the boiler' - so I'm thinking it's a gas boiler heating water in a tank all year round.

If that's the case, then it makes no sense that you are using more gas without the heating than you used in the winter with heating on. Unless ... estimated readings have distorted bills or there's a fault somewhere.

Original poster
asblackasyoursoul · 25/09/2022 22:17

Sorry, I should have said we have no gas, it is all electric. Certainly no hot tub or any such like, we are in a flat!
We moved in last September and left the immersion on all the time as we were told it would be more expensive to be constantly switching it on and off.
We had previously been a bit lazy with doing meter readings however now we are certainly doing them once a month.

Thank you for the advice given so far.

OP posts:
Original poster
asblackasyoursoul · 25/09/2022 22:18

To add, with leaving our immersion on since we moved in we’d never had any trouble with the bills until the June-August bill, hence we don’t think it is a problem with leaving the immersion on.

OP posts:
Original poster
asblackasyoursoul · 25/09/2022 22:20

We are unfortunately able to get a smart meter as we have storage heaters and our electricity usage is counted separately, the first one is ‘Standard’ which is our lighting, usage of cooker etc, and then the Heating control which is of course the boiler and radiators on etc.

The ‘Standard’ reading is totally reasonable, it is the Heating Control reading that is completely unreasonable.

OP posts:
bellac11 · 25/09/2022 22:21

What about the period from February, is that not included?

Air con?
More showers because of the heat wave?

Feathersandothers · 25/09/2022 22:24

Op are you on an economy 7 tariff and could you have transposed meter readings? Sse did this to me for ages , every single time they sent someone to read it

Feathersandothers · 25/09/2022 22:35

And if you are on an economy 7 tariff, you can have an economy 7 smart meter with sse. And if you’re not… surely it would make sense?

TheTeenageYears · 25/09/2022 22:53

All electric household here with Economy 10 but not storage heaters. Are you absolutely sure about your different circuits? We have high rate and low rate. Low rate for 10 hours (5 overnight, 3 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening) which works better for us than Economy 7 (think that's all overnight so the norm with storage heaters). All electricity used at low rate times (heating, hot water, lights, appliances) is charged at the lower rate and the higher rate the rest of the time. If the heating control reading is completely unreasonable it will be because the immersion is on permanently - it's like boiling a kettle constantly 24/7. We can now get an Economy 10 smart meter from EDF and will be doing so in the next few weeks.

Original poster
asblackasyoursoul · 26/09/2022 00:32

The period from February- June is 1222kw/h for heating control only. It’s only myself and my partner and we have showers every 2 days. According to SSE we are on the cheapest tariff possible.
I do understand that immersion is expensive however we have had it on since we lived here and it is only now, a year later, that the bill is completely unreasonable. This is what I’m not understanding.
I do apologise as I’m only recently turned 23 and i don’t have much experience of dealing with these things. Is it still reasonable for us to dispute our bill with all I’ve said?

OP posts:
SeasonFinale · 26/09/2022 01:05

Do not leave your immersion on. Such terrible advice whoever gave you that.

You have not answered whether the earlier set of readings were estimated ones or read ones as it is possible if underestimated yoh are now paying for the catch up of actual meter readings.

But turn the immersion off !

Danikm151 · 26/09/2022 01:28

Don’t forget the standing charge is pretty much double what it was last year too but if it’s against your kw usage, definitely take a look into it. Do you have any new devices!

Roselilly36 · 26/09/2022 05:05

Emerson heaters cost a fortune to run, we only ever used to put ours on for an hour, then turn it off, the water stayed hot in the tank.

Roselilly36 · 26/09/2022 05:15

Have you checked the meter readings? Do they agree with the readings you have taken or are they estimated (usually E by the reading if they are). If you have used the amount of electricity, assuming the readings are correct then you can’t dispute the bill, however you may be given more time to pay.

Electricity has gone up a lot per kilowatt hour and the daily standing charge.

Do you have a smart meter, that may help you understand what you are using?

Basically any item that heats or cools costs the most to run on electricity, so kettle, fridge/freezer, oven, hair dryer etc. Using an airfryer, will cost less than an oven, slow cooker cheap to run.

You will see a big difference in your bill, but switching the Emersion off, just have it on a timer for an hour before you get up in the morning and perhaps another hour in the evening if you need to bath baby etc.

BarbaraofSeville · 26/09/2022 05:16

Do those meter readings match the time periods stated and how much did you use between February and June? The first reading isn't very much for winter, so is it accurate?

Unless the immersion heater has a thermostat and the tank is well insulated it will be very wasteful and expensive for it to be on all the time.

You could try a comparison with leaving it on for a week then trying to time usage to what's needed for showers, washing up etc the week after and see if there's a difference.

Roselilly36 · 26/09/2022 05:26

According to Which emersion heaters cost about 63p per hour to run, a huge bill over the year if running 24/7.

Dannexe · 26/09/2022 06:29

Just turn off the immersion heater. Whether or not it was in last year. It needs to be on fir about an hour a day.

ivykaty44 · 26/09/2022 06:35

What was the usage/reading from March - May

have you got the actual meter readings for the three quarters if the year?

feb

may

august